Bid on viewable impressions using viewable CPM

If you'd like to pay only for ad impressions measured as viewable, you can with viewable cost-per-thousand impressions (viewable CPM). An ad is counted as "viewable" when 50 percent of your ad shows on screen for one second or longer for display ads and two seconds or longer for video ads. You can select Viewable CPM as a bid strategy when you choose CPM bidding for your "Display Network only" campaign.

Viewable CPM bidding

With viewable CPM (vCPM) bids, you only pay when your ad is able to be seen by potential customers. This means you're bidding on the actual value of your ad appearing in a viewable position on a given placement.

Keep in mind that using a higher vCPM bid than your CPM bid is usually more effective for winning these more valuable types of impressions. This can help keep your bids competitive and continue to meet your daily budget. Learn more about viewable CPM bids

Not available for all ad types

The viewable CPM bid strategy is not available for "Search Network only" campaigns.

If you create your campaign using the Viewable CPM bid strategy, and subsequently create ads that are not compatible, your ads will not run.

Why use it

Pay only for impressions measured as viewable

Your bids are optimized to favor ad slots that are more likely to become viewable

If you're interested in maximizing ad views, rather than clicks, this bidding strategy can help you achieve this goal better than other kinds of bid strategies.

Keep in mind

With viewable CPM, you bid on 1,000 viewable impressions and you pay for impressions that are measured as viewable.

Generally, to keep your costs and traffic at the same level as a CPM campaign, your bid for your viewable CPM might need to be higher than your bid for a standard CPM campaign; however, you should experiment with a bid that works for your campaign goals.

How to monitor your campaign

The number of viewable impressions is shown in your campaign reporting. To see how many viewable impressions your ad received in a cost-per-thousand viewable impressions campaign, follow the steps below.

On the Campaigns, Ad groups, Ads, or Display Network tab, click the Columns drop-down menu right above the statistics table.

To add a pre-defined set of Viewable CPM columns, select Branding.

To add specific Active View metrics, select "Modify columns" and click the Performance (Active View) metrics group. Click Add next to each column you wish to see in your reporting.

When you go back to your table, you'll see these columns:

Active View viewable impr.: Shows the number of viewable impressions.

Active View viewable CTR: Shows how often people clicked your ad after it became viewable.